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ALPHABET
GROUPS SET AGENDA FOR 2010The leaders of several of general
aviation's main advocacy groups came together this week to discuss the
challenges expected in the year ahead, set priorities, and commit to
cooperation. At a leadership conference hosted by the National Air
Transportation Association (NATA) in San Antonio, Texas, on Tuesday,
NATA President James Coyne joined AOPA President Craig Fuller, NBAA
President Ed Bolen and GAMA President Pete Bunce in an effort to find
ways to coordinate lobbying efforts on behalf of GA. "We cannot forget
what we did in 2009 when it comes to standing up for GA," Fuller said. The groups have been working together
this year more than they used to. "By working together a lot has been
accomplished, and we got more people to the table to discuss our
issues," Fuller said. AOPA listed several priorities that the groups
plan to work on this year: securing long-term funding for the FAA,
fighting the prospect of user fees, facilitating air transportation
modernization, recovering from a recession, and correcting public
misconceptions about the value of GA. More...

Trade Up Your Old Lightspeed
Headset for a Zulu
If you haven't been quite ready to move up, this program is for you.
Your older Lightspeed headset is worth up to $500 when you trade
it in for a new Zulu. Different headsets have different trade-up
values. (OEM and reconditioned headsets are not eligible.) Available to
U.S. customers and only through Lightspeed direct.
Find out how much yours is worth
now!

CIRRUS
UPDATES JET PROGRESSThe Vision jet
is the highest priority at Cirrus Aircraft, CEO Brent Wouters said in a
webcast on Wednesday, but as of now, there is no timeline for its
completion. "When will it be done? We don't know," Wouters said. "It's a
function of cash flow ... We will get the program done as soon as
humanly possible." The company will accelerate its efforts this year to
raise external capital for the project, he said, but in the interim,
progress will continue, funded by internal cash flow. For now, that
means a focus on nailing down the design elements, with higher-cost
parts of the project pushed forward in the timeline. The price,
effective this month, is $1.72 million, Wouters said. So far the company
has 428 position holders, and orders continue to come in at a pace of
one or two per week. Buyers who fly a SR22 while waiting for the jet can
benefit from learning the avionics package, sales director Gary Black
said, and then Cirrus will take the SR22 as a trade-in when their jet is
ready.

Various company officials reported on recent milestones in
the jet development program. The jet will be certified to FL280, said
engineer Dave Rathbun. A new hybrid ice-protection system, with
pneumatic boots made of long-lasting urethane, is in development. A
single-piece carbon shell has been designed for the cabin pressure
vessel. Also, the user interface of the panel has been evolving, with an
emphasis on fewer controls that are simple, logical, and intuitive.
About two-thirds of the supply chain has been finalized. Baggage areas
are being designed with ergonomics in mind, and the cabin will be roomy
and easy to move around in. The jet itself is expected to fit in a
standard 40-foot hangar. There will be an optional onboard lavatory. The
test program has accumulated about 236 flight hours, with positive
results from stability and control checks and a full stall matrix. A
series of flight demonstrations are set for airports in the Western U.S.
over the next few weeks, click here for the schedule. The full text of
Wednesday's update will be posted on the Cirrus jet Web
site after February 15. Black said training programs for the jet
will be the focus of the second-quarter update, and he added that he
expects the Vision will be "the jet trainer of the future."
More...

Kannad 406 AF-Compact ELT
Available at Aircraft Spruce
The Kannad 406 AF-Compact is designed for all light aircraft
requiring a very compact automatic fixed ELT that is fully FAA
TSO-C126-approved. The robust and reliable shock sensor will
automatically activate the ELT in the event of a crash. The pilot can
also manually activate the ELT in case of emergency. The Compact is the
smallest and lightest ELT combined into an "all-in-one" kit
with all installation supplies and required instructions. Call 1
(877) 4-SPRUCE or
visit AircraftSpruce.com.

HAITI
UPDATE -- GA PILOTS PROVIDE CRITICAL ASSISTANCEDisasters
tend to ebb from the headlines after a few weeks, but in Haiti, where
the devastation is widespread and the desperate need for help persists,
general aviation continues to play a major role in the response to the
Jan. 12 earthquake. In the immediate aftermath, private pilots were
widely advised that the best way they could help was to send money, but
in the ensuing days, pilots have found ways to pitch in with their
skills and aircraft to make a difference. "The best thing is if a pilot
can connect directly with a grass-roots group that has experience
working in the region," Rol Morrow, president of the Air Care Alliance,
told AVweb on Wednesday. However, many of those small groups are
too overwhelmed to deal with the logistics of getting aircraft where
they are needed, he said. Also, smaller single-engine airplanes might
not be best suited to the current needs, especially since long
over-water legs are needed to get to Haiti. But larger airplanes that
can move groups of people, or high-performance large-cabin aircraft,
such as Pilatus PC-12s or Cessna Caravans, that can carry a lot of
supplies into smaller, outlying runways, are needed. Also, Morrow added,
some groups may have needs to transport volunteers or supplies between
sites in the U.S., and that's another opportunity for GA pilots to help.
More...

Piper Hosts Wichita
Engineering Job Fair
Meet representatives on Friday, February 5 and Saturday,
February 6 from 8:00am to 6:00pm at the Broadview Hotel, located at
400 W. Douglas Ave. E-mail your resume to
wichitajobfair@piper.com
to be considered for a scheduled interview with hiring managers. For
more information and a list of available positions,
visit the careers page of
Piper.com.

RED
BULL TEAM AIMS TO SKYDIVE FROM SPACESince 1960, nobody has
beat USAF Col. Joe Kittinger's record for jumping from 102,000 feet and
landing safely with a parachute. Now Col. Kittinger is helping a Red Bull team
to break that record, with skydiver Felix Baumgartner hoping to set four
world records in a single jump. The team plans to send Baumgartner aloft
in a spacesuit inside a pressurized capsule carried by a helium balloon.
It will take about two and a half hours to reach at least 120,000 feet.
Baumgartner then will jump, and he expects to reach speeds in excess of
Mach 1 within about 30 seconds, making him the first person ever to
break the speed of sound with his own body. The team plans to launch
from a site in North America sometime this year, and will broadcast the
attempt live over the Internet. "This is truly a step into the unknown,"
Baumgartner said. "No one can accurately predict how the human body will
react in the transition to supersonic speeds. But we've got to find out.
Future aerospace programs need a way for pilots and astronauts to bail
out at high altitude in case of emergency." More...

METALPLANE
SOLD AT BARGAIN PRICEA rare 1929 Hamilton Metalplane, which
was expected to sell for about $1 million, went to the highest bidder
for just $710,000 at an auction in Scottsdale, Ariz., last week. The
aluminum airplane is No. 22 of only 29 that were built, and it's the
only one in flying condition. The collector who made the winning bid was
not identified. After a long useful life in Canada, Alaska, and
Washington State, the Metalplane was fully restored in Minnesota in the
1970s. It was flown to airshows and won several awards, including Grand
Champion trophy at the Antique Airplane Association National Convention
in 1975 and the Silver Age Champion award at Oshkosh in 1976. No. 22 was
mainly used a floatplane, and accumulated just over 5,000 hours before
its restoration. Since then, it has logged less than 50 hours in the
air. It last flew in June 1978. More...

Do You Have What It Takes to
Be a Safe Pilot?Challenge yourself with the Air Safety Foundation's Safety Quiz,
underwritten by the AOPA Insurance Agency

CORRECTIONIn
the Jan. 18 edition of AVwebFlash, we ran a story headlined "Flight
1549-Inspired Tow Plane Crash Lands Near Hudson." Based on reader
input and our own reflection, we've decided the headline is misleading
and doesn't reflect the events of that day, which included a successful
off-airport landing with no damage to the aircraft. The headline has
been changed. AVweb regrets the error. More...

On-Demand Coverage for
Part-Time Aircraft Traders
Because Avemco® is general
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and remove qualified aircraft to your Avemco insurance policy with just
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visit us online.

Over 18,000 Happy
GAMIjectors® Customers Can't Be Wrong!GAMIjectors® have given these aircraft owners reduced
cylinder head temperatures, reduced fuel consumption, and smoother
engine operation. GAMIjectors® alter the fuel/air ratio in
each cylinder so that each cylinder operates with a much more uniform
fuel/air ratio than occurs with any other factory set of injectors. To
speak to a GAMI engineer, call (888) FLY-GAMI, or
go online for complete engineering
details.

The air show
season opened on a high note for 2010 with a healthy turnout of both
exhibitors and patrons at the U.S. Sport Aviation Expo in Sebring, Fla.
The four-day show wrapped up Sunday and AVweb's Paul Bertorelli
and Jeb Burnside were there to capture the highlights on video. The
first five videos are now ready for viewing and there will be more in
coming days as we continue to review what has become an integral part of
the air show calendar in its few years of existence. More...

Peter Drucker Says, "The
Best Way to Predict the Future Is to Create It"
It's easy for your company to be more proactive, flexible, and
entrepreneurial with AVweb's cost-effective marketing
programs. Discover the benefits of instant response, quick copy
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Win a Bose Aviation X headset as we celebrate
our 15th Anniversary! All you have to do is click here to enter your name and e-mail address.
(You only have to enter once, and you'll be entered in our prize
drawings for the entire year  so if you've already entered, you're
all set.)

And no, we're not
going to rent or sell your name, ever. Tell your friends, and
invite them to sign up for AVweb so they can qualify for our 15
Grand Giveaways prize drawings, too. (We won't spam them, either 
but we hope they will sign up for our newsletters.)

... [A]t night, in the rain and clouds,
after the tower was closed, [we found] the Aero Premier angels waiting
for us. They hangared our plane (not a jet), helped unload our luggage,
called a taxi and had it drive into the hangar so we wouldn't get wet,
[then they] helped load the taxi  all with genuine friendliness.
When we returned two mornings later, as planned, the airplane was on the
flight line all ready. Our special thanks to Bethany on the desk, and
the extremely helpful Clay, Admond, and Rolando. What a great
experience!

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on AVweb? A question on marketing? Send it to AVweb's
sales team.

If you're having
trouble reading this newsletter in its HTML-rich format (or if you'd
prefer a lighter, simpler format for your PDA or handheld device),
there's also a text-only version of AVwebFlash. For complete
instructions on making the switch, click
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